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Twitter has informed the Delhi High Court that the parents of a minor Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi’s cantonment area last year, had consented to their photo being shared by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the microblogging site.

A petition by social worker, Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar sought direction to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Commissioner of Police Delhi to take appropriate legal action against Congress Ex President Rahul Gandhi for disclosing sensitive information about a rape victim and her family members by punlishing a photograph of her parents on his Twitter handle.

The plea states that by his conduct Gandhi has violated section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and section 23(2) of the POCSO Act, 2012 both of which mandate that the identity of a child victim of a crime shall not be disclosed.

The case relates to a nine year old Dalit girl who was allegedly gang raped, murdered and then cremated by her attackers on August 1, 2021 in South West Delhi leading to widespread protests.

Gandhi’s twitter handle was disabled over the issue, which has been reinstated. However, the tweet is still not available. The social media platform said that Gandhi had filed a formal appeal against the suspension of his Twitter handle.

The NCPCR had earlier written to Twitter on August 4, asking it to take action against Gandhi for revealing the identity of the minor victim’s parents.

“We are, however, in response to your legal request (NCPCR’s request), withholding the reported content in India under our assessment of the applicable local laws, which we do acknowledge disallow disclosure of such information, including the referencing of the parents of the victim, which cannot be disclosed under authorisation. Accordingly, we have withheld the reported content in India,” Twitter told the NCPCR in an email

The mail was a part of an affidavit filed on November 29 in reply to a plea by a Mhadlekar.

Case Title: Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar v. Rahul Gandhi & Ors.